Wastewater treatment systems are well known. For example, BioNutraTech, Inc. of Shell Knob, Mo. 65747 provides a powder for treating wastewater in municipal sewer systems under the trademark name “BiNurtix®”, and covered under one or more of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,443,845, 5,725,885, and 5,954,868, and European Patent Publication 0 809 612. In this treatment system, the powder may be particles of microbial available nutrients having an encapsulation including, for example, oleic acid. The powder when deposited into wastewater of a municipal sewer gradually releases to promote the growth of petroleum degrading bacteria to aid bioremediation of the wastewater.
Problematically, the powder feeder must be disposed within the municipal sewer. Electrically operated powder feeders run the risk of fire or explosion due to sparking in the presence of methane gas within municipal sewers.
What remains needed in the art, therefore, is a non-electrical powder feeder for placement within the municipal sewer.